Assuming the Bay Bridge's troubled new eastern span opens as planned Sept. 3 - broken bolts and all - its lead builder will be in line for a $20 million bonus.

That's on top of a $16 million bonus that the joint venture American Bridge/Fluor received last year for meeting construction deadlines and staying within budget during the earlier stages of construction.

The $40 million in on-time incentives was placed in the joint venture's contract in 2010, as part of a mega-change order settling numerous issues between American Bridge/Fluor and the state and local transportation agencies overseeing the $6.4 billion bridge construction.

There's a flip side to the freshly scheduled Sept. 3 ribbon cutting: It will save American Bridge/Fluor, and other contractors involved in the broken-bolts fiasco, millions in potential penalties that could have been imposed had the opening been delayed.

American Bridge/Fluor, for example, faced penalties of as much as $100,000 a day if the job wasn't done by Nov. 30.

Representatives for the joint venture declined to comment.

According to a state audit, American Bridge/Fluor was one of several parties - including Caltrans itself - that "shared responsibility" for ordering and installing bridge rods that broke, which threatened to delay the new span's opening for months.

The degree to which American Bridge/Fluor was responsible for the snafu - which is costing toll payers $23 million to fix - could determine how much of that second $20 million bonus it will actually receive.

"I don't know if we have a specific price on any of this yet," said Caltrans spokesman Will Shuck.

Sign of the times: The venerable Palace Hotel on Market Street has had to install code locks on its elegant lobby restrooms.

Guests, Garden Court diners and bar patrons have to ask a staffer for the combination.

Hotel spokeswoman Renee Robertssaid there was no specific incident that led to the locks' being installed. But the restrooms were "definitely being used by people who were not guests," she said.

"We want the people who spend money and time here to feel safe and comfortable," Roberts said.

S'Hell no: San Francisco enviros' nine-year effort to start a "clean" energy program for city residents is being dragged down by its association with an outfit most people don't think of as green -Shell Oil Co.

After the city's Public Utilities Commission put a hold on the program the other day, backers such as Supervisor John Avalos promised to continue the fight. But it's going to be a tough sell, even among those looking for an alternative to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s lock on the city's power.

One big reason: A recent poll of 509 voters on city issues by EMC Research, commissioned by the downtown business group Committee on Jobs, found that once voters were told the city's green program would be buying its power from Shell, support dropped from 65 percent to 17 percent.

That sort of sentiment has not gone unnoticed by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, which represents PG&E workers and opposes the city's effort to peel away half the utility's customers in San Francisco for the green program.

The union has already hit the streets with 20,000 "S'Hell No" door hangers in left-leaning neighborhoods that the utilities commission once targeted for rolling out the program.

Unlike past visits by the former secretary of state - which often included a local event or at least an intimate fundraiser - Clinton got into town and got out as quickly and quietly as possible.

Still, Clinton's staffers were very much on their game.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime Hillary supporter, decided at the last minute to pop in to the Moscone Center and hear her speech. Within minutes of his arrival, he was approached by a Clinton staffer who asked him to join the former first lady for photo ops with bar association higher-ups.

"It was typical Clinton," Newsom said. "Even in a low-key affair, they had the radar out."